Does anybody ever use a CI skillet inside a Gas Grill? I was watching Joanie cooking her sunny side delight over a small charcoal grill and wondered if the same thing could be done on a gas grill? What are your thoughts? Thought I'd ask before I tried it.

No reason you can't do it. I've used my gas grill to re-season cast iron so it doesn't smoke the house out. Folks use cast iron on gas cooktops all the time. A grill is just a larger cooking surface (more like an oven).

I've tried my version of that apple cake which is basically just some paper liner inside a 10 inch with 1 can of apple pie filling, a bunch of cinnemon and brown sugar and a yellow box cake. It came out really good. I like it as well as Tony's pineapple upside down cake. I used charcoal in a pan sitting inside my gas grill, the gas was off but having it closed to shelter from the wind helped it cook considerably faster

Cooking with cast iron in a gas grill is fine. Depending on what you are cooking you may consider using indirect heat so the bottom does not get done prior to the top (breads and cakes). I have done that many times with success.

Dropping it or banging it against hard objects It can be easily broken with just the wrong impact (I broke a leg off moving a heavy oven over a rock campfire ring,) yet I've picked up unbroken pans/ovens/lids that have fallen off a moving vehicle. It's not as fragile as tempered glass, but if you treat it with that level of care you will never have a problem.

Extreme quick temperature changes Plunging hot iron into cold water or dumping a large quantity of cold food into a really hot pan has the potential to crack it.

Not using it often enough Rust and neglect can be recovered from except in extreme cases

Practically any heat source can be used with CI. I've used small alcohol stoves (takes lots of fuel), sterno, campchef stove, coleman stove, charcoal, top of a coal fired railroad stove, the edge of a blacksmith forge (keep it rotated), campfire, kitchen stove and oven (gas and electric), rosebud tip of an oxy/acetylene torch (at a distance to prevent uneven heating), a propane weed burner, and I've even used CI in the preheat cabinet of an asphalt crack sealer. The only place that I've thought about but haven't tried is on a glass cooktop (nervous about the cooktop, not the iron.)

Other things, like cooking acidic foods, can be mitigated and doesn't really harm the iron itself ... if you take appropriate precautions (wash & re-season appropriately.) The real part of CI that you have to care for is the seasoning on the pan. Just say NO to dishwashers, soaps/detergents, extreme heat, etc. because they will harm the seasoning but not necessarily the iron itself.

Do not fear trying something new. As long as it is within the range of temperatures appropriate for preparing food and will not contaminate the food itself, you are probably OK.

CorwinIf I am unwilling to stand up straight before the world and admit what I have accomplished during the day, without excuses, in complete and honest detail, then I can do better ...and no one should be expected to accept anything less. -- myself

Corwin C wrote:The only place that I've thought about but haven't tried is on a glass cooktop (nervous about the cooktop, not the iron.)

I have used My Lodge 12" on my glass cook top many times. The only thing is to just be careful placing it on the glass. Also, If the cast iron piece has a heat ring on the bottom, don't use it on a glass cooktop. They require contact with the surface of the pan in order to transfer heat properly. A heat ring would create an air gap that will over heat the glass and break it.

I have started cooking with my dutch oven and skillet on the grill in an effort to keep the house cool. let all that waste heat stay outside and keep the house bearable!

the cast iron does a great job absorbing and radiating heat, so you can crank up the grill on high, let it preheat, throw in the DO with food, then 5 min late drop it down to one or two burners on low ( I do left and right on low for indirect, or just the center on low for more direct like with a soup) and it works great. also of benefit, you can start the process in the DO, then cut the heat and go away for an hour or so and it continues to slow cook. I did that with twice this week. it even saves fuel (at the expense of time, but if you need to leave anyways, the time is being used productively) plus it eliminates open flames in/around the house when nobody is home.

Just in the lasts week I have cooked split pea soup on the side burner of the grill, baked a spageti squash on the main burners (indirect), sautéed said squash with onion and garlic (in same DO but on side burner) and I have baked stuffed roasted bell peppers (also indirect, but using charcoal from the side firebox (more effort than it is worth in this application)).